We knew it was only a matter of time until someone brought a class action lawsuit against Microsoft and the Xbox 360, but we thought it would be related to failure rates and the red ring of death, not scratched discs. But, here it is before the ink is even dry right after being filed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The plaintiff and his lawyers are seeking more than five million dollars (insert Dr. Evil laugh here) to cover the damages and costs. C'mon, this is Microsoft, their soft-serve ice-cream budget for a holiday weekend probably exceeds five million smackers.
The lawsuit contends that the plaintiffs in the case "have been damaged in that their game discs were destroyed by the Xbox 360 during reasonable, foreseeable, normal, and intended use." They blame Microsoft because "The Xbox 360 was negligently designed and manufactured in that the Console's laser disc reading assembly contacts and scratches the video game discs during normal and intended operation and use." They cite at length the scratching study conducted by the Dutch TV program Kassa (are they getting a cut of this?) and the fact that the plaintiff couldn't play his Madden NFL '07 disc.
Either someone smells blood in the water, or the timing on this thing is just impeccable, we're not sure which one. One thing is for certain, this will probably get lost in the cacophony of E3 this week. Check out the pages in the gallery below, and chime in with your two cents.
The lawsuit contends that the plaintiffs in the case "have been damaged in that their game discs were destroyed by the Xbox 360 during reasonable, foreseeable, normal, and intended use." They blame Microsoft because "The Xbox 360 was negligently designed and manufactured in that the Console's laser disc reading assembly contacts and scratches the video game discs during normal and intended operation and use." They cite at length the scratching study conducted by the Dutch TV program Kassa (are they getting a cut of this?) and the fact that the plaintiff couldn't play his Madden NFL '07 disc.
Either someone smells blood in the water, or the timing on this thing is just impeccable, we're not sure which one. One thing is for certain, this will probably get lost in the cacophony of E3 this week. Check out the pages in the gallery below, and chime in with your two cents.
(Page 1) Reader Comments
I'm scared to look at my 360 when it has a disc in the drive in case it takes offence.
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I've suffered from this myself. Not fun.
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Its not really the xbox 360's fault that people are moving the consoles WHILE IN USE causing the discs to be scratched.
That's like trying to change tires on a car while its in use and saying 'Its Microsoft's fault my feet have been damaged beyond repair!'
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Of course, there's still something to be sad about human stupidity, though. But, a report was done on the 360 scratching discs (from a third-party).
People don't read them. I mean, how many eletronics do you move while in use? Anyone tried moving their computer while in use? How about your tv? Your dvd-player? Your stereo system? Your backup power supply? Your video card? do you move your video card in your pc while in use?
HELL NO! Do you move your xbox 360 while in use? 'Yes, but but but it shouldn't scratch it! Jsut cause it says in the manual not to move it and I moved it doesn't make my suing for money less valid!! Nor does the fact that you wouldn't move alot of other products while in use'
For the benefit of the peanut gallery, I do not move my console while it is on or while it has a disc in it. And, I have experienced this problem with the console in both the horizontal and vertical positions.
Also, Microsoft refuse to repair it under warranty because it is 'impossible for an Xbox 360 to scratch discs.' The lady on the phone told me that I had moved the console, despite my insistence that I had not.
So good luck to these people.
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Also, I'm willing to bet $5 that $ony fanboys will use this as firepower against the 360 DURING E3's coverage.
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How does this even make sense?
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Basically there's a problem with some of the drives and instead of fixing it Microsoft place the onus on the consumer to ensure optimal conditions for their defective product to work.
That's just not right. If a manufacturer advised to place a tv next to an open window to prevent overheating would that be acceptable? I don't think it would be.
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I am surprised how robust the PS3 and Wii have turned out so far. especially the PS3 with so many new components.
I love my 360, but all this is a little sad.
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That says that if the game disc doesn't perform like it said it would in the first 90 days that Microsoft will replace the game. If it cannot be replaced or repaired Microsoft has to pay you the equal amount of money you paid for the game. I'm going through this crap with Microsoft right now trying to get them to give me the money for my broken Forza Motorsport 2 disc.
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If this doesn't affect month to month sales, than this is bizzaro world.
This is not going to be good for M$. First the admission by Microsoft that their hardware is crap, then they slap a 3 year warranty to try to sweeten the pot, now a class action lawsuit?
Sony's engineer must be laughing at this right now. Ken Kutigari is having the last laugh.
Shit, my Dreamcast is still working fine and Sega rushed to market to try to beat PS2.
360 Confidence Level is at a 2 out of 10 stars right now. M$ get your act together!!!
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I can understand being upset if your system scratches discs during normal operation, but moving the console while it is on is downright stupid. The xbox is not a walkman and is not designed to be moved while a disc is spinning in a 12X DVD-ROM drive. I would suspect that most people realize how stupid it is to do just that, and don't speak up when they change their system from vertical to horizontal (or vice versa). I had a lapse in judgement and had the ethernet cable where someone could trip over it (so someone who wasn't expecting it to be there did), which caused my 360 to fall 3' and scratch a ring in a demo disc. The disc and the 360 still worked, but I wouldn't blame MS for my stupidity (sometimes otherwise sane people do stupid things).
And I know Joystick now has a reply function, but I just digged your post so it wouldn't let me.
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I can't think of a console that has ever scratched discs to the extent the 360 has (although the proliferation of the internet may account for how quickly and how far these anecdotes travel).
I believe this Kassa program discovered that disc stabilizers were found to be missing on the drives that scratched the discs they tested. Even pc optical drives incorporate these and I can't think of a more unwieldy, static piece of electronics that incorporates a drive than the average desktop pc.
There really is no accounting for human stupidity. It's the mark of a good, well built product that this golden rule is observed.
It's not good enough to state the user must place it horizontally (when every piece of Microsoft advertising displays the 360 standing vertically as it was designed to do so) and don't move it whilst in operation. Not when the stipulation has arisen due to MS cutting corners.
The problem may not be as wide spread as believed but it exists and it exists due to poor workmanship.
Anyway that be my opinion and i'm done :p
Peace out.
The RRoD Class Action is just around the corner.. its inevitable now. No matter how it turns out, the important thing is that some lawyers are going to make a lot of money :/
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One. Disc scratching, not counting moving the console while it is running, is a very uncommon occurence. Perhaps one of the drives they use in some of their systems scratches discs.
Two. MS could probably seek damages from that particular drive supplier. They buy the drive from the supplier under the agreement that it works. If it is a scratcher, and MS is sued because of it, they can probably seek damages as well.
Three. This is being blown way out of proportion by certain fandorks. Anyone can file a lawsuit. This thing may be thrown out of court or only end up with 10 plaintiffs for all we know. In that case, MS would just give the plaintiffs money for 360's and games, which the lawyers would basically keep all of anyways.
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I'll no longer shut it down with the disc in there I guess. Mine already got replaced once due to RROD just 13 days after the original 90 day warranty expired. Had it plugged into a basic surge protector.
Since the replacement last October and lots of gameplay with the unit plugged directly into the wall it's worked very well except for this new disc griding noise on poweron. Maybe time to take advantage of my Best Buy replacement plan.
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All in all, this lawsuit will settle, with Plaintiff's attorneys no doubt stipulating "attorney's fees" as a reward, leaving all members of the class with about $50 bucks to split among themselves.
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MS, this is certainly not the way to win a console war. You had it in front of you, and now you are giving Sony another chance. Tsk tsk tsk.
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Exactly, that's probably the point. Big enough to be nice for one person, small enough that MS may just pay him off.
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MS is on a downward skid as far as credibility goes. It's a shame, because I like the 360 experience overall, just the hardware seems to suck.
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Someone cite me a class action lawsuit where someone didn't die or wasn't medically harmed, where something came out of it other than a coupon for a rebate off a future purchase.
Also, 5 million is wildy excessive. At best, this person is entitled to a replacement game or a coupon off the cost for a replacement game.
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